I just purchased a Westinghouse 42" LCD TV, refurbished, from Comp USA. Unfortunately, none of the HDMI inputs work. However, to my uneducated (I guess) eyes and ears, it looks fantastic and the home theater sounds fantastic (although I have not noticed any rear channel differentiation/surround sound in watching 3 movies).
From internet research, it turns out there is a known problem with the Westinghouse HDMI inputs; unfortunately, the popular workaround of "rebooting" the TV simply does not work for me and my HDMI inputs just don't work.
It will be a terrific hassle to ship this thing back, plus I will have to go without TV for a couple of weeks when I am otherwise all set up.
Question: is HDMI enough better than a component connection to make it worth the hassle of exchanging the system? I'm not interested in arguments about influencing Comp USA's or Westinghouse's behavior by insisting they fix it, just whether from my selfish perspective it is worth it.
Glen specifically, please divulge what HDMI sources are not working into this Westinghouse TV.
Re: your question ... is HDMI enough better than a component connection to make it worth the hassle of exchanging the system?
The answer is no given the TV's size and class, but that does not excuse the lack of HDMI function on the TV. However, it does not seem likely that than otherwise completely functioning TV would be otherwise dead on its HDMI inputs. So again, what are the HDMI sources?
Thanks for your advice on my main inquiry. You sound like your opinion is pretty firm on that.
The input is from a Sony DAV-HDX275 Home Theater system. Does that answer your question?
I have read elsewhere on the net about this problem with some Westinghouse TVs. Apparently the HDMI inputs are routed together - or something, I'm not quite remembering the language - which is why you lose them all at once instead of just one.
Glen, to answer your specific question -- I definitely don't think that the difference between video on HDMI vs, component is all that much to the average person watching most video sources. Sophisticated video tests might reveal slightly better performance with HDMI, but real life use won't imo.
So the regular reboot doesn't work for you? Did you try this one?
1. Unplug both the TV and HDMI media source (your Sony's HDMI cable). 2. Wait 30 seconds. 3. Plug in the TV and turn it on (via remote okay). 4. Wait for the Westinghouse logo to come on, then disappear. 5. Plug in your Sony's HDMI. 6. Turn the Sony on.